Projects to get on with....

The gorgeous weather of the last few days has enabled me to crack on with a few things that need a bit of heat to help things along. First up is a dress form that my friend Joan gave me as a swap for a bread machine we never used. I think I got the best end of the deal and I've started to papier mache onto it. So far, I've only put on a couple of layers but the sun has already dried it out nicely. Now, I'm going to build up the neck and arms and decide whether to keep it short or add panels to make a full length figure. I have an inkling to make a corset for it and drape lots of fabric strips from the waist using it as a way to display samples and make a complete piece at the same time. Don't know what will happen next at this stage. Knowing me it will evolve in fits and starts until I'm happy with it. Still quite a few layers, sanding, priming and painting to go before I have to commit myself too far......

The hot weather also kick started the rust dyeing samples I'm working on as part of the group work my friends and I have started. We're beginning with the task of each producing as many samples as we can from a metre of calico. We all have different strengths and interests so we will no doubt all come up with different methods and surprise each other - which is the point of the exercise. We want to share and learn from each other as well as push and persuade each other to try new things. I have dyed some of my samples with tea and coffee and then overdyed with rust. The picture below shows a couple of pieces filled with steel wool and rolled like a swiss roll. I put them out yesterday afternoon and washed them out about 20 hours later. They have both taken on a similar colouring.

This is the result so far. I put some copper headed nails into the tray but they did not have the desired effect - probably not copperised at all? Hmm? I wonder where I can get some good copper wire to try with? Will have to find some.

One of the stakes in my garden is a small metal bird shape that has rusted nicely over winter so I laid a piece of scoured calico on top of it, soaked in vinegar and left it in a clear plastic bag for 24 hours. This is the result. In real life it looks much clearer and there are some lovely rust marks in the centre of it. Question is now - what shall I do to these samples next? Shall I leave them or use another medium on top again....

The other day I was reading about an artist called Lorraine Glessner. She takes fabric, wraps garden waste with it and then composts it for a while. When the fabric is to her liking she wraps it around a frame, collages onto it, distresses it further and then covers it in layers of encaustic. Have a look at her work and read her blog. She sounds like a fascinating artist and I am taken with her idea of 'found pictures'. Something I shall be taking further too! So many ideas, so little time!

More moths...

Things have been a bit hectic since Easter! I am working on a project with a group of friends and I've been busy rust dyeing and compost dyeing some fabrics. More of what I've been up to next week.... In the meantime this glorious weather signals the start of bigger moth counts. Athough significantly down on previous years it was a more encouraging night with over 60 moths in the trap including these lovelies:

Early Thorn

Lunar Marbled Brown

Pebble Prominent

Anthotypes

Ever since my fascination with printmaking began I have searched for different ways to transfer images onto both paper, textiles and other surfaces. There will never be enough time to explore all the possibilities but it's great trying!

Anthotypes are an alternative photographic process using plant juices instead of chemicals to expose a photograph. It was developed at the same time as the cyanotype process and can be read about here.

Some of the most stunning anthotypes are the work of Jennifer Linnea Daly. Have a look at them here and take a good look at the rest of her portfolio. Jennifer has also produced some wonderful imprints which are solar plate prints on plaster. She has a great eye for imagery and is interested in historical and altenrative processes.

To achieve an anthotype you blitz up plant material in a food processor and strain the juice. Jennifer recommends using spinach, the juice of which is then painted onto the paper. Once dry, the material or transparency is laid on top and glass is placed over the image which is very similar to the cyanotype process. The 'sandwich' is then exposed to the sun. Where cyanotype takes minutes , anthotypes can take 5 to 6 hours.

There is an ethereal look to anthotypes and I shall be trying the process on fabric as well as paper this summer. Watch this space......

Seeds are in, get ready for take off....

After reading about the greenhouse industry of purple podded peas I decided it was about time I got on with this year's seed sowing today. My long list of things to grow this year include lots of salad crops and beans, peppers and sweet corn - which I only grow to make paper from - as well as the usual fruit which is well under way. For flowers, I often grow herbs every year and always try some architectural plants for cover, stature and usually, magnificent leaves which lend themselves to printing from. This year it will be Ricinus 'New Zealand Purple', Pennisetum 'Purple Majesty', Nicandra - or Shoo-Fly to the rest of us - as well as loads of my favourites, dark red and orange sunflowers.

Of course, a greenhouse of soil filled pots is not that exciting to look at at the moment but the garden is full of seductive promise today so I couldn't help but take in the cherry blossom on both of our trees......

The damson and the pear tree are also starting to blossom well and today, I missed our apple trees which we had to cut down last year. I hope we are going to have a good summer crop of everything this year and that the glorious weather is a good omen for it. Our little pig cott has been cleaned out and hopefully, the swallows will be returning to it again soon. One of our 'heads' stands duty on the door keeping it safe for them. Apparently they have already sighted swallows in Amroth on the coast about 5 miles away. Unbelieveable. The earliest ours have ever come home is mid April, arriving on the same date two years running! When you think that the swallow has a brain no bigger than a pea isn't it mind boggling how they can fly 6000 miles and come home to breed in the same place at exactly the same time. I am in awe of this feat every year. They never fail to amaze or charm me.

Lastly, I noticed these euphorbia purpurea by the door and thought about how many 'greens' there are in Nature's palette. When you start to look at the plants around you, the variation is enormous. Too tiring an activity for a sunny Sunday afternoon though. Time to just enjoy what's on offer and give thanks.

Brenda Hartill RE

On Friday my boy and I went into Swansea to see an exhibition at the Attic Gallery by Brenda Hartill. I first came across Brenda Hartill's collagraphs when I bought her book in the Printmaking Handbook series and I have been hooked on printing and collagraphs ever since! These two images have been taken from the gallery invitiation and show new collage work that Brenda has produced. The exhibition also has mixed media paintings as well as her specialist limited edition collagraphs and etchings. Up front and personal they are just stunning. The use of colour is wonderful - it's a palette that really hits you between the eyes.

These two pieces are collages with oil paint and wax. Brenda is also working now with collage and found objects embedded with encaustic medium. Only standing in front of these pieces can you appreciate the depth of the layers. Although the wax subdues the colour it does not diminish its effect. A brilliant exhibition which left my head buzzing with ideas.

There is more of Brenda's work in the latest Printmaking Handbook by Alexia Tala. It's called 'Installations and Experimental Printmaking' and is well worth a look if you like to see how printmakers are using new mediums and methods - or old mediums in a new way!

My husband went to an Out Apiary meting yesterday of the local Beekeepers Association and he is hoping to site his own hives in our next door field this year. The main reasoning behind this is the dire situation for bees. You just feel you have to try and do something to reverse the trend ... but I wonder if I can persuade him to let me have some beeswax as and when it becomes available.....

In the next couple of weeks I take delivery of my etching press. I really will have to get on with it then...

Goldfinches by the dozen...

We are blessed with the number of birds we see in our garden and never tire of looking at them. There are five feeders near the house and although bird seed has become quite expensive, the cost pales into insignificance when we are able to look out onto a flurry of goldfinches all squabbling and jostling for space on the niger seed feeder. They are such argumentative little souls, always sniping at each other. They fight with the siskins and the greenfinches as if to say 'Clear Off - this is ours!' Lucky for them that the woodpecker isn't interested in the niger seed. This is one of three woodpeckers we see at any one time but once they move on.....

.... it's time for the squirrel to have a go. Not my favourite animal but there is only one this year and once he's had his daily fill and knocked the fat ball feeder to the ground he scarpers off....

.... leaving the field open for the yellowhammers. Here is one camoflagued in the hedge.... whereas lots of others gather beneath the feeders and grab the seed that falls there. These lovely birds are a declining species but the farmer who works the fields surrounding us uses old methods and so they thrive.....

... as do the local rabbit population! Although, both yesterday and today we have seen Mr Fox patrolling the field next door sniffing around the entrance to their warren. Oh oh chaps, keep your heads down!

Laura Thomas

Last night I went to a talk by locally born, Cardiff based weaver Laura Thomas which was organised by the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers that I am a member of. It was the precursor to a workshop that Laura is facilitating today called 'White on White Weaving'.
Now, I am no weaver - it is too mathematical and time consuming for me, but I am always fascinated to hear about the work and creative processes of any artist and Laura's story was a very interesting one. Laura is pushing boundaries all the time and experimentng with weave structures again and again, always looking for another way to do something. Her latest work has been to encapsulate her weaving within clear acrylic blocks and move her weaving towards 3D. Now she is taking the acrylic theme further by enclosing intricate laser cut leather and thread structures in the blocks. She acknowledges that selling textiles is hard work so she is striving to find another way to make people see the potential. I hope she succeeds. More of her work can be seen here.